Power's Price

by Crimson Lionheart

[V] The Prize for Surviving

//This chapter is a bit boring, a lot of it is An'taur's back story and some bits on how Taura works\\

I awoke to shouts and threats. I pulled myself to my feet and looked around. 3 of the participants have captured one of the guards and are holding him as a human....Minotaur shield and at knife point. Around the edges of the room are guards pointing their halberds and crossbows at the 3 revolutionaries. The gladiators made a small circle around where I laid.

"Haben wir den Dämon zu töten, bevor er uns tötet" Tar'kour shouts at the minotaurs.

"Wenn er uns tot will, würden wir uns schon tot." An'taur retorts. He is the one holding the guard, Jarr is at his side leveling the guard's halberd towards the guards and another, smaller minotaur is holding a smaller sword. There are 8 guards with halberds and 3 with crossbows. Tar'kour is here with his bodyguard with the sabre. They continue to shout at each other in Tauran for a few seconds before one of the guards called out.

"Der Dämon ist es wach" One of the guards near the door turned and ran. Another dropped to his knees and began to pray. Tar'kour looked at me with fear in his eyes, but tried to look like he was still in control of the situation.

"Why didn't you tell us of your demonic abilities?" asked Tar'kour, trying to sound intimidating, but to no avail.

"You never asked," I said with a cocky smile. He may not be able to hide his emotions, but I am a master.

"Fine then, under the power vested in me, by the royal crown of Taura and it's populace, I sentence you to death by hanging." He said copying my smile, his fear still evident.

"What is my crime?" I hadn't planned for this.

"Being a prominent threat to the safety of all Taurans."

"Then there is no need to put him to death," I never thought I would be so happy to hear such a beautiful voice, "we can simply take him away from Taura and Taurans. I would gladly take him off your hands and bring him back to Canterlot."

"...And then make him a threat to your little ponies? You may be their leader, but I won't let you put them at risk like that. He will be hung this afternoon."

Celestia stepped forward. "You would do well to remember your place, Tar'kor. You do not make choices about my little ponies, only my sister or I can." Her horn began to glow, "and if you would like me to remind you of your place..."

"Take him then," he turned to me and Celestia's horn dimmed, "but just remember, if you are ever seen here again, you will be killed on sight."

"You got it," I said quickly. Tar'kor turned back towards Celestia and reminded her that dinner would be served at 7 before walking past her into the hallway.

"Arin, would you join Tar'kour, Luna, Crimson and I for dinner tonight?" Celestia asked politely. I heard a groan from up the hallway.

"Actually princess, I don't think I will be eating...."

"There will be Equestrian food there as well," Celestia quickly cut me off.

"Oh, then it would be my honour." I said with a slight bow.

"I'll see you there. Just...see if they can give you a bath," she half-joked with a smile.

"Of course your highness." Celestia turned and followed Tar'kor up the hallway. I began to remember what I had been through. "Someone catch me!" Why does no-one ever catch me?

---

"He's awake!" I awake to An'taur's face being uncomfortably close to mine. My entire body burns and every movement aches. I am still on the floor, just propped up against the wall. "So how did you do it?"

"Do what?" I try to push myself back against the wall further, but a sharp pain stopped me. I pulled my hands up to see them wrapped in a dirty brown rag.

"You breathed fire," I looked at him like he was crazy.

"Bullshit, I can't breathe fire."

"What about when you covered yourself and your axes in that freaky black fire."

"Well....that doesn't.......I can't breathe fire" He got me there, even if I technically wasn't the one who did it.

"It was amazing," he said in hysteria, "You looked like a demon fresh out of hell. The way you ducked and dodged the berserker's swings, you looked like you were dancing. If you could fight like that, how the hell did Tar'kor's guards get you?"

"I don't even think I was in control," An'taur looked slightly confused so I started to explain to him what had happened to him up to when I appeared here. The library, the book, the voice inside my head, waking up in the water, everything. That reminded me. "How haven't I died yet?

"I don't know, I guess that demon just makes you good at fighting."

"That's not what I meant. I woke up in exposed water, isn't all water that isn't from a spring highly irradiated?"

"Um....no?"

"The eridium spill mustn't have spread this far south."

"You can really talk about the weirdest stuff sometimes." An'taur said with a quick laugh. He took a seat next to me against the wall.

"You don't know the half of it," I may have only met him the day before, but he reminded me of my brother, Derek. We just sat there smiling to ourselves for a while, just enjoying each others company.

"Holy shit, you're dining with royalty tonight. You need a shower." Yup, definitely Derek. He carried me to the closest group of guards. We asked the guard if I could use the guard shower. Of course they told us to bugger off. We then told them that I was dining with Tar'kor and Celestia. They let me in and I had a quick shower and quickly washed my clothes, well what's left of them. I put my clothes back on after letting them dry for a bit. I hobbled back to to An'taur with my clean, ripped clothing and we sat down against the wall again to chat more.

"So tell me about how you met Sheeva."

"She was actually trying to kill me. This was before the EPT and Taura was at war with the Barrow Alpha and the Gryphon Kingdoms. She jumped me from behind the door to my room. After some struggling, I knocked her out. I was going to kill her but I took pity on her, so I let her go. We ran into each other again when she tried to kill Tar'kor's elder brother, Shar'kor. I saw her in the shadows and tackled her and knocked her out again before asking for Shar'kor's blessings to torture her to death. Of course I got his blessing so I took her back to my room. I tied her down until she woke up. We started talking for a bit and learned a bit about each other. She was a bit hesitant at first but when she found out that I was the one who let her live the first time and that I was against the war between our people. I snuck her out again and thought that was the end of it. Little did I know that while I was talking with her, another assassin had done away with Shar'kor and forced the crown down to Tar'kor"

He then waited a few moments before continuing, "then she starting sneaking in to my room randomly. We would just sit and talk for hours on end. We only got caught once, and that was by my captain. I told him the truth and asked him to keep it a secret. He obliged and we continued doing this for months until I kissed her. It was a little awkward at first but we got the hang of it. The Barrow Alpha was killed by a mysterious assassin who wishes her name to not be known and the ETP was signed. Peace reigned throughout the world. The burrows went back to being run by their own Alphas and the Gryphon Kingdoms went back to being city-states. Wasn't long until I asked her to marry me, and she said yes."

"Obviously,"

"Shut up! I was then approached by some of the Alphas and Gryphon Diplomats. They wanted proof that there was still POWs and mistreated prisoners here, against the EPT's Rights for all Sentient Beings. I accepted and tried to expose him, I got caught when I was trying to get the documents out by the same captain who promised to keep everything a secret. He ratted on me, telling them about Sheeva, my proposal and the deal with the Gryphons and Dogs. They cut off my ring fingers and chucked me in here," He held up his hands and showed his two missing fingers, "Sheeva has snuck in a few times, but I told her to stop so she doesn't get caught."

"That's horrible," I say in melancholy, the cheery mood ruined a long time ago.

"That's how it is. If it is the last thing I do, I just want to hold her again. Just one last time."

"I promise, until yours or my last breathe, I will make that happen."

"It's hopeless, you're getting out of here tomorrow and I'll be stuck here, destined to fight till the day I die, or if I am lucky, they'll let me stitch wounds for the rest of my days. I am the closest thing to a doctor this place has had in 50 years."

"I'll get you out of here, I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I'll keep this one."

"What ever." We stayed quiet for a bit. How close he was to Derek was almost scary. I heard some soft hoofsteps from the corner. I looked over to see the smaller minotaur from before slowly walk over to me.

"Can you get me out too, please," He sounded like he was 10 years old.

"I can try, doesn't mean I'll succeed" He was about my height and much thinner, with almost no muscle on him. His horns are only just poking out of the hair on his head. "What are you in here for?"

"He tried to steal food from a noble's house. He was brought in while you were fighting. He saw you breathe fire and helped me drag your half dead ass back in here. He also help fend the guard off while you woke up again."

"Thanks for that," I looked him dead in the eye to make sure he understood how much I meant it. He shyed away and began blushing, "I guess I have two reasons to come back."

"Hündin," I heard called from the cages.

"Three then, happy Jarr?"

"Es ist mir egal,"

"You know what, one day I am going to learn Tauran, and I am going to kick your ass for all the smart ass comments you make!"

"Ich bin für diesen Tag warten zu, Hündin"

"Hey, why is his name just Jarr and not Jarr something?"

"Well, my name should technically be just An. When your family does an exkommunizieren against you, you lose your last name and are considered to have no family. None of you family can ever speak to you or help you. You always get exkommunizieren if you are found guilty of treason or infidelity amongst other crimes. Especially if you are a member of the royal family."

"Huh?" Did he just say royal family?

"There are two royal families, Taur and Kor. Each generation fights it out and who ever wins gets to be king and their heir. My brother lost against Shar'kor so the Kor were kings. Also, if Tar'kor dies, then I am the rightful king, because there is would be no other to take up the bloodline and Taur would hold the throne indefinitely. Jarr won't tell me his family name."

"Dämon, you have any idea what time it is?" Asked a guard as he entered the room.

"I have no idea," I said in an overly cheery tone, "tell me, what is the time?"

"8:30, you are very late." 8:30, but doesn't dinner start at....

"Fuck"

Нам нужно поговорить

Author's Note:

This chapter would have been uploaded earlier, but my PC crashed and I had to start again. That'll teach me to save periodically.

Comments

[OdinBrony]

looks like this story will have some great derp moments i found the last part funny

[The Library]

I got the same problem man.

[Crimson Lionheart]

1931963 I want to try and keep the stories serious but have a moment or two where you can have a little laugh to yourself, now to find a way to do that without making them all derp moments or just timed swearing after an event.